Portrait of Baudouin de Lannoy

Jan van Eyck's Portrait of Baudouin de Lannoy, painted in 1434, depicts a prominent Burgundian nobleman who served as a diplomat and councillor to Philip the Good. Now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, the portrait shows Lannoy holding the staff of a chamberlain and wearing the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the most prestigious chivalric order in 15th-century Europe. Van Eyck's access to such powerful sitters reflects his privileged position as court painter.

Van Eyck combines psychological acuity with his trademark material precision, rendering the fur collar, chain of the Golden Fleece, and the sitter's weathered features with controlled oil glazing against a plain green background.